Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south

Bej, Debabrata; Ghosh, Sandip Sankar; Haldar, Srijan; Roy, Arindam

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3

Preprints

https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3

Preprints

27 Oct 2023

| 27 Oct 2023

Status: a revised version of this preprint was accepted for the journal GC and is expected to appear here in due course.

Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south

Debabrata Bej, Sandip Sankar Ghosh, Srijan Haldar, and Arindam Roy

Abstract. Air pollution has become a serious matter of concern in the global south and a significant amount of funding has been used to create awareness of air pollution. The conventional method of sensitization relies on workshops where slide-based presentations, images, plots and graphs are shown to the participants. However, sensitization about air quality using such an audio-visual format might not be sufficient to create adequate impact. Here in this study, we propose a new sensitization technique, the pollution walk, where participants and a subject matter expert will walk through different urban micro-environments with live air quality monitor. A pilot involving three such pollution walks with 24 participants were conducted in a south Asian megacity and pre and post-ante survey were conducted. The results indicate a greater sense of understanding among the participants and multidisciplinary nature of the air pollution problem has been well communicated. To understand the long-term impact, a survey after one year has been done which clearly indicates high levels of awareness and behavioural changes among the participants.

Received: 25 Jul 2023 – Discussion started: 27 Oct 2023

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.

Download & links

Preprint (PDF, 1133 KB)

Supplement (337 KB)

Download & links

Debabrata Bej, Sandip Sankar Ghosh, Srijan Haldar, and Arindam Roy

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on gc-2023-3', Anonymous Referee #1, 27 Nov 2023
This manuscript presents a novel approach for creating awareness related to air pollution — an important problem in India. Air pollution experts walk with participants with an air pollution sensor in tow and educate the participants about various facets of indoor and outdoor air quality. Even though this approach was only tested on 24 participants over 3 walks, the methods seems robust and the findings are interesting and should be scalable in cities around the world.
Some comments:
The use of “Global South” in the title is not justified in my opinion. There is not enough discussion in the paper on the similarities (or lack thereof) within the Global South. What about “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity”. A title which is generalized too much (e.g., “Global South”, “South Asia”, or even no region in title implying universality), needs to then include discussion in the text on those (implied) extrapolations.

There is no discussion on the language(s) used during the walk and its implications. I think including this discussion with the reflections, challenges faced, best approaches, etc. will be helpful for others trying to emulate the approach used by the authors.

Use “particulate matter” (PM) instead of particulate or particulates throughout the manuscript.

Page 2, Line 73: Source for population is missing

Page 4, Line 135: “improves indoor air quality” (since ventilation is also defined for outdoors)

Page 12, Line 346: “Air apocalypse” is not a scientific term and simpler language may be better suited in my opinion.

Some formatting issues (See page 11, Line 324; Page 13, Line 351)

Thanks to the authors for writing an interesting article and describing an approach which I hope is replicated widely
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-RC1
- AC1:
  'Reply on RC1', Arindam Roy, 28 Dec 2023
  This manuscript presents a novel approach for creating awareness related to air pollution — an important problem in India. Air pollution experts walk with participants with an air pollution sensor in tow and educate the participants about various facets of indoor and outdoor air quality. Even though this approach was only tested on 24 participants over 3 walks, the methods seems robust and the findings are interesting and should be scalable in cities around the world.
  We sincerely appreciate the constructive comments. Thanks a lot.
  Some comments:
  The use of “Global South” in the title is not justified in my opinion. There is not enough discussion in the paper on the similarities (or lack thereof) within the Global South. What about “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity”. A title which is generalized too much (e.g., “Global South”, “South Asia”, or even no region in title implying universality), needs to then include discussion in the text on those (implied) extrapolations. - True, we will change it to “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity” according to your suggestion.
  
  There is no discussion on the language(s) used during the walk and its implications. I think including this discussion with the reflections, challenges faced, best approaches, etc. will be helpful for others trying to emulate the approach used by the authors. - Thanks a lot. We have used the native language of the participants, Bengali, for communication. We will mention that in the discussion.
  
  Use “particulate matter” (PM) instead of particulate or particulates throughout the manuscript. - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Page 2, Line 73: Source for population is missing - We will add it (Census, 2011) according to your suggestion
  
  Page 4, Line 135: “improves indoor air quality” (since ventilation is also defined for outdoors) - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Page 12, Line 346: “Air apocalypse” is not a scientific term and simpler language may be better suited in my opinion. - We will change it according to your suggestion and use more scientifically appropriate terminology.
  
  Some formatting issues (See page 11, Line 324; Page 13, Line 351) - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Thanks to the authors for writing an interesting article and describing an approach which I hope is replicated widely
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on gc-2023-3', Anonymous Referee #2, 14 Feb 2024
The manuscript “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south” describes a novel approach to raise awareness on air pollution in Kolkata, a city in India. The approach falls into the citizen science framework and, in this study, involved 24 participants in 3 “Pollution Walks”. Overall, the manuscript provides an approach that seems replicable also in other countries or in bigger areas.
The manuscript is well structured, as it presents title, authors, abstract, introduction, methodology, results and discussion and implications. References seem overall appropriate. All figures and tabled are mentioned and described in the text.
Technical corrections:
Title: referring to “global south” is quite strong and doesn’t reflect the content of the manuscript. I agree with the title suggestion by RC1;

Abstract, line 20: instead of “post-ante” do the authors mean “ex-post”?

Line 50: “chronic” without capital letter;

Line 57: “global south” is all lower case, while “Global North” in line 68 has first capital letters. Authors should choose which option is best and be consistent throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 67: has been able (“been” is missing);

Line 73: Reference missing on the population number;

Line 74: It is not clear what “adjacent respiratory illness” means;

Line 92: “air pollution walk” is all lower case, while “Pollution Walk” in lines 81-82 has first capital letters. Authors should choose which option is best and be consistent throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 94: “Fig S1” is not available. Do authors mean “Fig 1?”

Line 101: “surveys were done”

Overall there should be consistency with respect to the verbal tenses throughout the whole manuscript, as sometimes present and sometimes past are used (e.g. lines 139-144: “Then the participants were asked to visit the adjacent kitchen to monitor the indoor pollution contribution by cooking. Then participants moves outside and it was explained how ventilation helps to dilute air pollutants. Further, the participants walk through major and minor roads and measure air pollutants in different settings. The participants walk through the same route to the room and a semi-structured interview was taken.”

Line 148-149: Citation needed;

Line 168: “All” shouldn’t have a capital first letter;

Line 168: “all participants”;

Line 172: “if this improved”;

Line 173-174: “Follow-up interviews were done a year after the walk, …”;

Table 1: The “%” sign is missing on the first 3 lines of the “Percentage (n=24)” column;

Line 186: “Participants…” not “The participants…”. This should be modified throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 187-188: citation needed;

Lines 193-195: This sentence should be rephrased as it is not clear;

Line 211: “The pre-walk and post-walk surveys were conducted…”;

Line 211: It is not clear what authors mean with “precipitation”. Please correct;

Line 215: “or that smaller”;

Line 216: “All most half” is not clear. Please correct;

Lines 255-257: Sentence is not clear, please correct;

Line 257: “Moreover, 4%...”;

Line 307: “in the last year” instead of “in last one year”;

Line 324: “Those who ca’'t” should be “Those who can’t”;

Line 346: “air apocalypse” is a strong wording that should be reconsidered;

Line 351: “Autho’'s contribution” should be “Author’s contribution”;

Overall, the manuscript requires some technical corrections that could improve readability and quality of the text.
Thanks to the authors for submitting this interesting study.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Arindam Roy, 04 Mar 2024
  
  Thank you for your comment. Reply for the comments are posted in bold.
  The manuscript “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south” describes a novel approach to raise awareness on air pollution in Kolkata, a city in India. The approach falls into the citizen science framework and, in this study, involved 24 participants in 3 “Pollution Walks”. Overall, the manuscript provides an approach that seems replicable also in other countries or in bigger areas.
  The manuscript is well structured, as it presents title, authors, abstract, introduction, methodology, results and discussion and implications. References seem overall appropriate. All figures and tabled are mentioned and described in the text.
  Thank you so much.
  Overall, the manuscript requires some technical corrections that could improve readability and quality of the text.
  We really appreciate your comment. We will change the technical errors according to your suggestion in the modified manuscript.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-AC2

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on gc-2023-3', Anonymous Referee #1, 27 Nov 2023
This manuscript presents a novel approach for creating awareness related to air pollution — an important problem in India. Air pollution experts walk with participants with an air pollution sensor in tow and educate the participants about various facets of indoor and outdoor air quality. Even though this approach was only tested on 24 participants over 3 walks, the methods seems robust and the findings are interesting and should be scalable in cities around the world.
Some comments:
The use of “Global South” in the title is not justified in my opinion. There is not enough discussion in the paper on the similarities (or lack thereof) within the Global South. What about “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity”. A title which is generalized too much (e.g., “Global South”, “South Asia”, or even no region in title implying universality), needs to then include discussion in the text on those (implied) extrapolations.

There is no discussion on the language(s) used during the walk and its implications. I think including this discussion with the reflections, challenges faced, best approaches, etc. will be helpful for others trying to emulate the approach used by the authors.

Use “particulate matter” (PM) instead of particulate or particulates throughout the manuscript.

Page 2, Line 73: Source for population is missing

Page 4, Line 135: “improves indoor air quality” (since ventilation is also defined for outdoors)

Page 12, Line 346: “Air apocalypse” is not a scientific term and simpler language may be better suited in my opinion.

Some formatting issues (See page 11, Line 324; Page 13, Line 351)

Thanks to the authors for writing an interesting article and describing an approach which I hope is replicated widely
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-RC1
- AC1:
  'Reply on RC1', Arindam Roy, 28 Dec 2023
  This manuscript presents a novel approach for creating awareness related to air pollution — an important problem in India. Air pollution experts walk with participants with an air pollution sensor in tow and educate the participants about various facets of indoor and outdoor air quality. Even though this approach was only tested on 24 participants over 3 walks, the methods seems robust and the findings are interesting and should be scalable in cities around the world.
  We sincerely appreciate the constructive comments. Thanks a lot.
  Some comments:
  The use of “Global South” in the title is not justified in my opinion. There is not enough discussion in the paper on the similarities (or lack thereof) within the Global South. What about “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity”. A title which is generalized too much (e.g., “Global South”, “South Asia”, or even no region in title implying universality), needs to then include discussion in the text on those (implied) extrapolations. - True, we will change it to “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization: A pilot from an Indian megacity” according to your suggestion.
  
  There is no discussion on the language(s) used during the walk and its implications. I think including this discussion with the reflections, challenges faced, best approaches, etc. will be helpful for others trying to emulate the approach used by the authors. - Thanks a lot. We have used the native language of the participants, Bengali, for communication. We will mention that in the discussion.
  
  Use “particulate matter” (PM) instead of particulate or particulates throughout the manuscript. - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Page 2, Line 73: Source for population is missing - We will add it (Census, 2011) according to your suggestion
  
  Page 4, Line 135: “improves indoor air quality” (since ventilation is also defined for outdoors) - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Page 12, Line 346: “Air apocalypse” is not a scientific term and simpler language may be better suited in my opinion. - We will change it according to your suggestion and use more scientifically appropriate terminology.
  
  Some formatting issues (See page 11, Line 324; Page 13, Line 351) - We will change it according to your suggestion
  
  Thanks to the authors for writing an interesting article and describing an approach which I hope is replicated widely
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on gc-2023-3', Anonymous Referee #2, 14 Feb 2024
The manuscript “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south” describes a novel approach to raise awareness on air pollution in Kolkata, a city in India. The approach falls into the citizen science framework and, in this study, involved 24 participants in 3 “Pollution Walks”. Overall, the manuscript provides an approach that seems replicable also in other countries or in bigger areas.
The manuscript is well structured, as it presents title, authors, abstract, introduction, methodology, results and discussion and implications. References seem overall appropriate. All figures and tabled are mentioned and described in the text.
Technical corrections:
Title: referring to “global south” is quite strong and doesn’t reflect the content of the manuscript. I agree with the title suggestion by RC1;

Abstract, line 20: instead of “post-ante” do the authors mean “ex-post”?

Line 50: “chronic” without capital letter;

Line 57: “global south” is all lower case, while “Global North” in line 68 has first capital letters. Authors should choose which option is best and be consistent throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 67: has been able (“been” is missing);

Line 73: Reference missing on the population number;

Line 74: It is not clear what “adjacent respiratory illness” means;

Line 92: “air pollution walk” is all lower case, while “Pollution Walk” in lines 81-82 has first capital letters. Authors should choose which option is best and be consistent throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 94: “Fig S1” is not available. Do authors mean “Fig 1?”

Line 101: “surveys were done”

Overall there should be consistency with respect to the verbal tenses throughout the whole manuscript, as sometimes present and sometimes past are used (e.g. lines 139-144: “Then the participants were asked to visit the adjacent kitchen to monitor the indoor pollution contribution by cooking. Then participants moves outside and it was explained how ventilation helps to dilute air pollutants. Further, the participants walk through major and minor roads and measure air pollutants in different settings. The participants walk through the same route to the room and a semi-structured interview was taken.”

Line 148-149: Citation needed;

Line 168: “All” shouldn’t have a capital first letter;

Line 168: “all participants”;

Line 172: “if this improved”;

Line 173-174: “Follow-up interviews were done a year after the walk, …”;

Table 1: The “%” sign is missing on the first 3 lines of the “Percentage (n=24)” column;

Line 186: “Participants…” not “The participants…”. This should be modified throughout the whole manuscript;

Line 187-188: citation needed;

Lines 193-195: This sentence should be rephrased as it is not clear;

Line 211: “The pre-walk and post-walk surveys were conducted…”;

Line 211: It is not clear what authors mean with “precipitation”. Please correct;

Line 215: “or that smaller”;

Line 216: “All most half” is not clear. Please correct;

Lines 255-257: Sentence is not clear, please correct;

Line 257: “Moreover, 4%...”;

Line 307: “in the last year” instead of “in last one year”;

Line 324: “Those who ca’'t” should be “Those who can’t”;

Line 346: “air apocalypse” is a strong wording that should be reconsidered;

Line 351: “Autho’'s contribution” should be “Author’s contribution”;

Overall, the manuscript requires some technical corrections that could improve readability and quality of the text.
Thanks to the authors for submitting this interesting study.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Arindam Roy, 04 Mar 2024
  
  Thank you for your comment. Reply for the comments are posted in bold.
  The manuscript “Air pollution walk as an impact education tool for air quality sensitization in the global south” describes a novel approach to raise awareness on air pollution in Kolkata, a city in India. The approach falls into the citizen science framework and, in this study, involved 24 participants in 3 “Pollution Walks”. Overall, the manuscript provides an approach that seems replicable also in other countries or in bigger areas.
  The manuscript is well structured, as it presents title, authors, abstract, introduction, methodology, results and discussion and implications. References seem overall appropriate. All figures and tabled are mentioned and described in the text.
  Thank you so much.
  Overall, the manuscript requires some technical corrections that could improve readability and quality of the text.
  We really appreciate your comment. We will change the technical errors according to your suggestion in the modified manuscript.
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-AC2

Debabrata Bej, Sandip Sankar Ghosh, Srijan Haldar, and Arindam Roy

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-2023-3-supplement

Debabrata Bej, Sandip Sankar Ghosh, Srijan Haldar, and Arindam Roy

Viewed

Total article views: 439 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)

HTML	PDF	XML	Total	Supplement	BibTeX	EndNote
317	102	20	439	31	15	16

HTML: 317
PDF: 102
XML: 20
Total: 439
Supplement: 31
BibTeX: 15
EndNote: 16

Views and downloads (calculated since 27 Oct 2023)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2023	54	11	3	68
Nov 2023	56	16	0	72
Dec 2023	43	11	3	57
Jan 2024	32	9	3	44
Feb 2024	26	13	3	42
Mar 2024	55	24	4	83
Apr 2024	19	5	3	27
May 2024	18	11	1	30
Jun 2024	14	2	0	16

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 27 Oct 2023)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2023	54	11	3	68
Nov 2023	56	16	0	72
Dec 2023	43	11	3	57
Jan 2024	32	9	3	44
Feb 2024	26	13	3	42
Mar 2024	55	24	4	83
Apr 2024	19	5	3	27
May 2024	18	11	1	30
Jun 2024	14	2	0	16

Viewed (geographical distribution)

Total article views: 432 (including HTML, PDF, and XML) Thereof 432 with geography defined and 0 with unknown origin.

Country	#	Views	%

Latest update: 29 Jun 2024

Download

Preprint (1133 KB)
Metadata XML

Short summary

Walking with an air quality monitoring instruments and an air quality expert could be a better tool for improving citizen awareness. A pilot experiment was done where a group of citizen roam around the city of Kolkata, India with live air quality monitor and an expert. The feedback from the participants were taken which clearly indicate air pollution walk as an efficient tool of communicating air pollution.


Total:	0
HTML:	0
PDF:	0
XML:	0